My Profile

These are two fabulous towns!! The prices for lace were cheaper in Ghent than in Brussels or Bruges. We spent about 1 1/2 hours in Ghent then the drive to Bruges was about 45 minutes. Were in Bruges for lunch. The pub they recommend is very expensive! Other restaurants are slower but a lot less money. Took the canal boat ride, definitely worth the 7 Euros!!! Have your hotel call the tour operator to see if you can get picked up rather than meet at the departure location as it was a little off the beaten path. The tour guide could have been a little more exciting but the charm of the two cities more than made up for that!

Very interesting! Started at Godiva in the Grand Place. Walked through the city and saw a lot of the sights. The tour guide was very knowledgeable. Stopped at 5 other chocolatiers in the city. We made our own chocolates at Cote D'Or!! It was great and then they gave us the most decadent hot chocolate I have ever had in my life! We tried a bunch of different chocolates there. Even tried the peppercorn chocolate (not so great). You will be glad that you did it. The tour starts at 0900 in the Grand Place and ends there approximately 1300. Our tour guide even spent the time to show us (after the tour) where the Janneken Pis was - the female version of the Manneken Pis. On our tour the Manneken was wearing a French military uniform! He was so tiny!!

My 16 year old son and husband had an amazing experience! My husband was not at all keen on doing this and I think he enjoyed it more than my son!!! The first hour is spent learning the different battle techniques the Gladiators used, then followed by teaching them to fight with swords. The man who leads the tour (can't remember his name) was a wealth of information and was extremely accommodating as they were about 20 minutes late because IT IS HARD TO FIND!!!! Take the advice of all the others and USE A TAXI!!! It's off a dirt road near the ancient wall. Even the taxi driver wasn't too sure where it was and used his GPS . If you are in the main city or Trastevere - make sure to allow at least 30 minutes so you are not late. DO IT!!!